PFA chief Carlisle backs FA handling of Clattenburg racism probe

The chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, Clarke
Carlisle, believes the speed with which the Mark Clattenburg case is
being dealt with shows that English football is doing its best to deal
with accusations of racism quickly.

The Football Association is investigating a complaint from Chelsea
that referee Clattenburg used 'inappropriate language' towards John Obi
Mikel in last weekend's game with Manchester United, with the European
champions understood to have interpreted the alleged comments to have
been of a racist nature.

One complaint about the way the FA handled the recent racist abuse
cases involving Liverpool`s Luis Suarez and Chelsea's John Terry was
that both issues could have been dealt with a lot quicker.

Terry is currently serving a four-match ban over a year after his
altercation with QPR's Anton Ferdinand, while Suarez started an
eight-match suspension in January, three months after his incident with
Patrice Evra.

The fallout of both cases prompted a number of figures within the
game to claim not enough was being done to tackle racism in football,
but Carlisle says the speed with which the FA has brought the current
issue to the table is a good sign.

Carlisle, speaking on a special racism edition of ESPN football debate and discussion show, ESPNFC PressPass, said: 'I think because of the fact that cases have come
forward, the awareness of the issue has been highlighted and it shows
that there are the mechanisms to report, investigate and sanction
offences of racial abuse.

'As awareness is raised, more people are going to report issues as
they come across them. People will hopefully be encouraged to report it
more.

Seeing red: The incident occurred during Chelsea's match with Manchester United, where Clattenburg sent off Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres

'Whether he (Clattenburg) is found guilty or not, an allegation has
been made and it`s being taken seriously. It`s being investigated and
hopefully the correct decision will be come to. The more we see like
that, with incidents being reported and dealt with efficiently, people
will be more content with the system.'

Carlisle, who is still playing for York alongside his role with the
PFA, believes that efficient handling of cases ensures there are no grey
areas when verdicts are meted out.

Terry was cleared at Westminster Magistrates' Court after the
conclusion of Euro 2012 - some nine months after Chelsea`s game at QPR -
and an FA hearing subsequently following.

'The way the two recent cases have been handled, there was a real
dissatisfaction with the way the FA acted with both, the way they were
protracted for such a long period of time," Carlisle added.

'There was a feeling that proceedings were influenced by factors
that shouldn`t come into the reckoning, the way the case was postponed
until the end of the Euros and how it impacted on squad selections and
other people`s careers within that. It was such an emotive issue and it
did polarise opinion in football.

'The governing body of our sport has the ability to step outside the
legal system and calm the discontent surrounding these issues.'

Carlisle's comments came at the end of a day which saw former
official and Sportsmail columnist Graham Poll say the only way Clattenburg could have an 'untarnished' reputation would be if Chelsea admitted to making a
mistake.

'The only way that anything positive could come of this for Mark
would be if Chelsea Football Club accepted that they were mistaken and
then he could come out untarnished,' Poll told BBC Radio Five Live's
Sportsweek programme.

'Even if the FA said 'case not proven', it's got to have a
detrimental effect on his career.'

Clattenburg was linked up to his
assistants throughout the game and in theory they should have heard any
conversations to have taken place.

However the feed is not recorded.

'Something should be done so referees are not left isolated,' Poll said.

'The minimum that should happen is that (conversations are) taped.
If an allegation comes up, we replay the transcript in private so the FA
can go "it's wrong, it's sorted, be quiet".'

FA chairman David Bernstein also suggested that recording
conversations could be a way forward, but cautioned that all the
relevant bodies would need to approve it.

Also speaking on Sportsweek, he said: 'In order for that to happen,
the referees' organisation - the Professional Game Match Officials Board
- which is controlled by the FA, Premier League and Football League,
would have to recommend that way forward.

'Then it would need to go before (world governing body) FIFA or IFAB (the rule-making body of FIFA) to be approved.

'(But) given what's happened recently, we should have an open mind about it and it should definitely be looked at.'

Keith Hackett, the former general manager of Premier League
referees, would go as far as allowing supporters to tune in to the
conversations.

He told the Observer: "I would have no problem with fans having the
ability to purchase a `Ref!Link` to listen in to what the match
officials are saying."